Dathlu llawenydd dolydd // Celebrating the joy of meadows
Last year, as part of my field names project for Stori’r Tir, I discovered the joy of meadows. It is remarkable the number of meadows there used to be in this valley, extending right up from the valley floor to the Ffridd (mountain pasture). By combining field name information on maps from 1777 - 1847, I found there were more than 30 in Nant Peris alone - and photographs that people have shared with me show there were probably more fields used as meadows than their names suggest.
My map of the Nant Peris field / house/ place names: The green areas on this map are meadows, named Ddôl or Gweirglodd
There’s so much talk of trees, but what of these species-rich grasslands that used to cover huge areas of the UK? These beautiful and important habitats - which also, by the way, can store more carbon than tree cover - that were once essential for providing winter feed for farms, small holdings and rural households who kept a few cows, have been all but lost. And it wasn’t just feed - some of these meadows had names like “Cae Doctor” and “Gweirglodd Ysbyty” (Doctor’s Field, Hospital Meadow) because animals would be turned out there if unwell, to feed on the range of medicinal plants (as well as providing medicinal plants for humans). It turns out that in the UK, 97% of the species-rich grassland has been lost since the 1930s. Now just 1% of our land is now species-rich. This pattern is replicated here, with only one surviving traditionally harvested field, Cae’r Ddôl in Llanberis.
So last week, we (Lowri Hedd Vaughn, GwyrddNi, Manon Prysor and I) held the first ever Gwyl y Pladur - Scything Festival - in Llanberis at Cae’r Ddôl, to celebrate our rich meadow history, in the spirit of exploring meadows and their possibilities in the future… It was so well received, we are already thinking about next year’s!
Diolch i bawb wnaeth ddod! Thanks to everyone who came!
Y Rhaglen // The programme
Manon Prysor
Castglu’r Gwair - Hay Harvest
“Camwch yn ol mewn amser gyda gwraig fferm. Blaswch laeth enwyn a chacen gri; dysgwch sgiliau cribyn fach a chodi mwdwl; rhannu hanesion yr hen ffordd o fyw a chwarae gemau
Step back in time with the farmers wife. Taste buttermilk and Welsh cake; learn traditional raking skills and build a ‘mwdwl’; share stories about the old way of life and the games they played.”
The original idea for Gwyl y Pladur came from Manon Prysor (here’s Manon as the farmer’s wife), while we were working on the Enwau Caeau project last year. Manon brought the traditional harvest alive, helping us to learn how to create a ‘mwdwl’ traditional haystack.
We also tried our hand at scything with thanks to Felin Uchaf, and raking with thanks to Tim Cumine.
Mae’r bladur hithau yn ei phwd
Mewn rhwd yn awr yn hongian
A’r hen gorn bloneg yn ei fedd
Yn nhawel hedd yr ydlan
Ac ysbryd y medelwyr mwyn
Ar frig y chwyn y cwynfan
(hen bennill a ddarganfuwyd gan J Williams-Davies (dyfynnwyd yn llyfr Rhian Parry, Cerdded y Caeau)
Trwsio cribyn traddodiadol gyda Tim Cumine // Traditional rake mending with Tim Cumine
Banging a peg through a hole to make it the right size turns out to be immensely satisfying.
Taith ac argraffu botaneg // Botany walk and printing with Emily Meilleur
Emily also made a list of plants she’s found at Cae’r Ddôl, which you can see here, on an interactive map of the old meadows of Llanberis
Lansiad llyfr newydd // launch of new book: Stori Canthrig Bwt
What’s the connection between the old witch of Nant Peris and meadows? I have ‘refabulated’ the traditional story of Canthrig Bwt, and with support from GwyrddNi, it is now published as a real book, thanks to Tea with a Tree publishing
Here are Wanda Zyborska (who illustrated the book) and I, with our publisher, Gaia Redgrave (Tea with a Tree publishing). The book is printed on uncoated paper, using vegetable inks and is available for £10 plus p&p by emailing me (online purchase coming soon!)
If you would like to try your hand at writing new legends, see here: Plant Canthrig - Children of Canthrig
Cerddoriaeth & dawnsio efo // Music and dancing with Acordions Dros Annibyniaeth
Arddangosfa enwau caeau // Exhibition of field names
Inspired by the work of Robbie Blackhall-Myers, and a walk he ran a few years ago in Llanberis, looking for meadow clues in road and house names, I’ve created this interactive map. On each location there is information and a series of pictures, old and new. With particular thanks to Selwyn Williams, Mair Read and Eifion Roberts for information and pics.
Map Enwau Caeau Nant Peris Field Names Map
This map is the result of a few year’s research, with the help of many others, including in particular Gwilym a Mari Roberts, Eilian Eryri Wen and Manon Prysor. You can see more here
